Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    SOLVED: Having a maddening time getting a SIP Codec to work correctly.

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved NAT
    30 Posts 5 Posters 5.8k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • F
      FTL_Ian
      last edited by

      No entries for the Cell Phone IP in the firewall logs when I connect via Linphone.

      If I turn off the port forwards, firewall blocks to the Cell Phone IP show up on port 5060, as they should.

      I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • KOMK
        KOM
        last edited by

        It's probably an advanced network option like strict NAT or static source ports or something like that.  Search these forums for keywords like SIP, VoIP, no audio as I've seen these types of cases before but I haven't paid them much attention.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • chpalmerC
          chpalmer
          last edited by

          Destination on your WAN firewall rules should be the IP address of the Comrex box.. or the IP subnet that covers multiple boxes.

          Get rid of any port forwarding and see how that works out for you.

          Broadcast stuff we use is all T-1 so this is out of the knowledge base. But ROIP and VOIP is usually visited once a week or so.

          Triggering snowflakes one by one..
          Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • F
            FTL_Ian
            last edited by

            It is.  "Comrex_Access_Rack" is an alias for the LAN IP for the Comrex box.

            I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • KOMK
              KOM
              last edited by

              Again, no concrete help but some reading that may point the way.

              https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/VoIP_Configuration

              https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Static_Port

              https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=63424.0

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • F
                FTL_Ian
                last edited by

                @chpalmer:

                Destination on your WAN firewall rules should be the IP address of the Comrex box.. or the IP subnet that covers multiple boxes.

                Get rid of any port forwarding and see how that works out for you.

                Getting rid of the port forward doesn't make sense, and doesn't work - that just makes Linphone not connect at all.

                I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • chpalmerC
                  chpalmer
                  last edited by

                  @FTL_Ian:

                  Getting rid of the port forward doesn't make sense, and doesn't work - that just makes Linphone not connect at all.

                  Just a test.

                  In the SIP world it does make sense because the client SIP device reports in its header its NAT address.

                  Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                  Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • F
                    FTL_Ian
                    last edited by

                    I did get rid of the 6014 and 6015 port forwards and that made no difference.  It still connects, but no data is transferred.

                    I've tried all the troubleshooting links I can find.  There must be something that will work, but I'm baffled as to what it is.  Having spent nearly two weeks on this, I'm getting close to contacting support.

                    I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • DerelictD
                      Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                      last edited by

                      Have any documentation from Comrex describing exactly what they need from a firewall - NAT in particular?

                      Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                      A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                      DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                      Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • F
                        FTL_Ian
                        last edited by

                        They say to forward ports 5060, 6014, and 6015 UDP to the unit and it needs a static IP.  I've since assigned the unit to avoid load balancing as I'm on a dual-WAN, but that didn't solve the problem.

                        Here's their guide to connect Linphone SIP client with the Comrex:
                        http://www.comrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Linphone-technote-for-ACCESS-and-BRIC-Link.pdf

                        Works fine when I connect to their test, works fine when I plug the Comrex directly into my cable modem, so it's definitely not a problem with Linphone or the Comrex - seems like something in PFsense is getting in the way.

                        I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • DerelictD
                          Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                          last edited by

                          That's great but there is nothing to get in the way there.

                          I see no mention of outbound connections from the codec so delete any static port outbound NAT you have created. It won't help and might break something else.

                          What are the contents of all your aliases?

                          I see no mention of TCP in that document. Why is your SIP forward TCP/UDP?

                          You do not need to worry about Multi-WAN on inbound connections from clients. pf reply-to handles that and is automatic as long as that connection is set up as a WAN (Has a gateway set on the interface). That is unless the default gateway on the codec is not set to pfSense LAN in which case you'll have all sorts of asymmetric routing issues.

                          Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                          A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                          DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                          Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            This right?
                            http://www.comrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ACCESS-Rack-Manual.pdf

                            Are you running v3.0 firmware? If not then you need to be forwarding different ports.

                            In the case of SIP, this
                            must be three discrete ports (For Comrex codecs these are UDP 5060, 5014
                            and 5015)
                            <6014 and 6015 with 3.0 firmware>

                            Do you see any blocked traffic in the firewall log from the client IP you are trying to connect from?

                            Steve

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • F
                              FTL_Ian
                              last edited by

                              Derelict:

                              I've tried static port on and off and neither worked, so it's off at this time.

                              I was forwarding TCP so a port checker would be able to verify the forwards.  It's not necessary for the Comrex.  Only UDP.

                              Do you want the full contents of my aliases on ports, or just those related to the Comrex?

                              I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • F
                                FTL_Ian
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10:

                                This right?
                                http://www.comrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ACCESS-Rack-Manual.pdf

                                Are you running v3.0 firmware? If not then you need to be forwarding different ports.

                                In the case of SIP, this
                                must be three discrete ports (For Comrex codecs these are UDP 5060, 5014
                                and 5015)
                                <6014 and 6015 with 3.0 firmware>

                                Do you see any blocked traffic in the firewall log from the client IP you are trying to connect from?

                                Steve

                                I'm running Comrex 4.0-p9 - the latest firmware.  Ports 5060 and 6014 and 6015 are the proper ports, per the advanced settings in the unit.

                                I've checked the firewall, and no, I don't see any blocked traffic from the IP in question.

                                I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • F
                                  FTL_Ian
                                  last edited by

                                  As you can see in the pic I posted in this post: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=121139.msg671629#msg671629

                                  There are states between my cell phone IP and all three ports in question.  But no meaningful amount of audio data (like a 64kbps audio stream) is being transmitted.

                                  I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • F
                                    FTL_Ian
                                    last edited by

                                    (Going on the radio for a few hours - will check back later.  Thanks for the help, all.)

                                    I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      Ok, I would try grabbing a packet capture on the internal interface and filter by the IP of the Comrex unit.

                                      If you can inspect the SIP packets in wireshark I'm betting that it's handing out it's internal private IP as the destination for the RTP traffic.

                                      There appears to be a setting in the Comrex to force that to the external IP:

                                      Under
                                      Advanced System Settings
                                      , a field is available called
                                      Public IP Override
                                      . Any address put into that field will be pasted into the
                                      address SIP field

                                      Steve

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • DerelictD
                                        Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                        last edited by

                                        There simply doesn't look to be anything special about this unit. No special NAT requirements.

                                        Just need the contents of the aliases specific to the Comrex.

                                        From those states it looks like the phone IP connects inbound on 5060 and then the Comrex is attempting to connect outbound on 6014 and 6015 to the Cell Phone's IP address and is receiving nothing in reply.

                                        Allowing that traffic will be up to the firewall at the cell phone side. Those counters show the outbound traffic, with zeroes in reply and those two captures are a good example of what is meant by static source port.

                                        You sure you have this all configured correctly?

                                        It looks to me like the "server" unit should tell the phone unit to connect back to it on 6014 and 6015 but, instead, it is just trying to connect outbound sourced from 6014/6015. Destination 7076 and 7077 in both examples.

                                        Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                                        A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                                        DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                                        Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • F
                                          FTL_Ian
                                          last edited by

                                          @stephenw10:

                                          Ok, I would try grabbing a packet capture on the internal interface and filter by the IP of the Comrex unit.

                                          If you can inspect the SIP packets in wireshark I'm betting that it's handing out it's internal private IP as the destination for the RTP traffic.

                                          There appears to be a setting in the Comrex to force that to the external IP:

                                          Under
                                          Advanced System Settings
                                          , a field is available called
                                          Public IP Override
                                          . Any address put into that field will be pasted into the
                                          address SIP field

                                          Steve

                                          Hrm, here's the top of the packet capture I ran during a test connection from Linphone.  The source and destination ports are:
                                          line 1: 37524 / 5060
                                          2:  5060 / 37524
                                          3: 1783 / 7077
                                          4-100: 61245 / 7076

                                          Searching for the cell phone IP in the firewall logs of pfsense shows nothing - no pass, no block.  Shouldn't it show passes?

                                          packet_capture_wireshark.jpg
                                          packet_capture_wireshark.jpg_thumb

                                          I blog regularly at http://FreeKeene.com

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • DerelictD
                                            Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                            last edited by

                                            Under
                                            Advanced System Settings
                                            , a field is available called
                                            Public IP Override
                                            . Any address put into that field will be pasted into the
                                            address SIP field

                                            Did you do this?

                                            No. Pass rules do not log unless you explicitly enable that on the rule.

                                            Again, that shows good two-way SIP initiated by the Phone IP followed by OUTBOUND traffic to the Phone IP on ports 7076 and 7077. That will have to be passed at the Phone IP side.

                                            Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                                            A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                                            DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                                            Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.